It is well known that organomagnesium compounds, as exemplified by Grignard reagents, have great utility in organic synthesis. For example, Grignard reagents can convert ketones into tertiary alcohols. However, in many cases, only a portion of the ketone is converted into the desired tertiary alcohol, the remainder appearing as a mixture of secondary alcohol and an enol. The extent of these side reactions depends upon the polarity (electron density) of the R-Mg bond.
Consequently, it is a feature of this invention to provide an organomagnesium reagent that, among its advantages, diminishes secondary alcohol and enol formation in the synthesis of tertiary alcohols from ketones.
This feature has great utility in biochemical reactions where it is often important to conserve materials and control the stereochemistry of the addition.
In this connection, another feature of this invention is to provide a series of organomagnesium compounds in which the molecular size can be readily changed merely by changing the silylamide group.
These compounds may be used as catalysts, for example, in polymerizing and copolymerizing 1-olefins.